Even with today’s bumpy seas, it felt great to be back out on the water and in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary looking for our cetacean friends.

This morning we traveled out to the southwest corner of Stellwagen, where we encountered two sets of three humpback whales.

Our first trio included Music, Flounder, and Sanchal, who mostly took short dives while moving slowly around the area. After some time, we moved on to a sleepier trio that included Nile, Valley, and Infinity. Some of the highlights of the trip came from these three whales, such as a close surfacing by Infinity and beautiful high fluking dives from both Nile and Valley!

Nile high fluking

Music fluke

We returned to the southwest corner this afternoon and spent time with several of our Stellwagen favorites.

We first encountered Shuffleboard, Gladiator, and Cantilever, who were slowly travelling around the area offering us several great looks. We moved on after noticing some consistent splashing in the distance, and soon found one very surface active humpback whale with three others! Nile was our breaching whale that we spotted from a distance, and Milkweed, Valley, and Infinity followed close by. Nile would alternate between breaching and double flipper slapping, while the others took fluking dives nearby. It was certainly a trip that I’m sure no one will forget- new and seasoned whale watchers alike!